A Shorten Labor Government will partner with the Andrews Labor Government to build Victoria’s first fully separated high-speed busway from Doncaster Road to Hoddle Street as part of a comprehensive $3.5 billion infrastructure plan that will ease traffic congestion across Melbourne’s northern and south-eastern suburbs.

This election will be a choice between a united Shorten Labor Government, which will build the transport infrastructure Melbourne needs, or more of the Liberals’ cuts and chaos. We need real change, because more of the same isn’t good enough.

Federal Labor will make a $250 million contribution towards constructing the busway. It will include two separated bus-only lanes running alongside a widened Eastern Freeway, commencing at Doncaster Park and Ride and ending at the existing bus lanes on Hoddle Street in the City.

Buses will be able to travel at up to 100km/h, cutting commute times by up to a third.

The Doncaster Park and Ride will be upgraded and a new Park and Ride at Bulleen built. These facilities will include additional bus platforms, multi-level parking, pedestrian and cycling access, and cycling storage cages.

In addition, a Shorten Labor Government will provide $1.75 billion to help deliver the North East Link, which will complete the ring road between the Eastern Freeway and the M80 and connect the city’s growing northern and south-eastern suburbs.

Widening the freeway and constructing the busway will accommodate current and future traffic volumes and ensure the North East Link achieves what it is designed to do: take trucks off local streets and return those streets to local residents.

Over six years of cuts and chaos, the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government has denied Victoria its fair share of federal infrastructure funding. Despite being home to a quarter of Australians, Victoria’s share of the federal infrastructure budget has fallen to as low as 7 per cent.

In contrast with the Liberals and Nationals, Federal Labor has developed a comprehensive plan that will ensure Victoria, Australia’s fastest growing state, has the roads and public transport networks that are fit for purpose.